Tuesday, May 25, 2010

This was last Wednesday and we had a great time. Just to see Machini's face while we were dancing and I would show him my moves and he would start to laugh was priceless. The school did a good job in organizing this night. There was a good turn out and we had a awesome night.

We have been attending more family functions which is a great switch from being at City of Hope. Hanging around family and friends has been good. Marco has been feeling well to be out and about in a boat. The kids will be getting out of school for summer vacation tomorrow and we are excited. Looking forward to this summer and see what it will bring.

Here is Machini with his classmates performing a play all about Dinosaurs. I it was awesome, they all did a great job.

Machini was so excited to show us his performance and we arrived with about 10 minutes to spare. We had attended Jaylen's Car Wash Fundraiser to support the NASCAR Day Initiative. The four year old little boy is a heart patient at Loma Linda and he wants to be a NASCAR Driver when he grows up. And the best part was that we got to drive on the track to dry our car off.It was amazing! We could of gone fast but we had to stay to the speed limit. We had an amazing afternoon with Spaghetti dinner that was served at Machini's school. If the photos look bright it's because Marco decided this would be the best time to play around with the camera settings....

These picture are of our yard which hasn't been touch in 12 years. These were taken a couple of weeks after Marco had his major surgery. Our first attempt to have some grass in the yard so we could enjoy some BBQ for this summer is the goal.

I had leveled the yard as much as I could and started to lay down some top soil with Marco telling me where to go and how to do it.

Who knew a few plants would look in the back. We should of done this along time ago. Thanks to Medicated Man who came out to help put these in.

Marco has been keeping busy with house repairs and yard work .....learning to limit himself on what he can and can not do. He is still recovering and taking it easy. He has been slowly feeling better. Looking forward to see grass growing in the desert sand. Two weeks after laying out the grass seeds we didn't see anything growing so we did what anyone else would do .....we did it again and planted seeds to see what would happen. Pictures to follow. So far ... all is good.

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What is Soft-Tissue Sarcoma?

Soft tissue sarcomas are cancerous tumors that originate in the soft tissues of the body.

These tissues include muscle, fat, blood vessels, nerves, tendons and the lining of the joints. Marco's sarcoma started off as a tumor in his calf muscle in December 2007. The tumor was surgically removed, then treated with radiation.

The cancer later spread to his lung area, the tumors were also surgically removed, his body treated with chemo. He had three more tumors in his lungs, which they tried to shrink down with chemo.

Doctors had ruled out any more surgeries after chemo but they finally agreed.

On March 15, 2010 they removed the three tumors from his lungs, a section of the lung and diaphragm and three sections of ribs. Marco was in intensive care for over a week fighting an infection.

A CT scan showed worrisome signs that the cancer was back and it was confirmed with a PET scan.

Marco went through the maximum number of chemos to try to shrink that tumor. The tumor was not being responsive to the chemo in the shoulder area and there was a new tumor discovered near the aorta that was showing some response.

On Jan 15, 2011 Marco started 6 weeks of radiation aimed at his chest area, 5 days a week 30 min a day before surgery options were put on the table again.

After much debate, surgery was completed March 28, 2011. Marco underwent a painful recovery at home, only to discover over the Labor Day weekend that the sarcoma has spread to his brain.

Marco had brain surgery September 2011 to have the brain tumor removed. He also completed radiation to the operated area. On October 2011, Marco exhausted all of his treatment options at City of Hope. Marco entered home hospice care.

On March 3, 2012, Marco passed away at home surrounded by his family. You can read the posts and archive to read his story.